“Really, René-it was nothing important.”

“You used to tell me all your secrets.”

“Yes, but you’ve never really told me yours.”

“Are you still upset about this bag?”

“I’m not upset about it. Just curious, that’s all.”

“All right, if you must know, it’s a surprise.”

“For who?”

“For you!” He smiled. “I was going to give it to you later.”

“You bought me a backpack? How very thoughtful, René. How romantic.”

“The surprise is inside the backpack.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s been my experience that the surprise itself never quite lives up to the anticipation of the surprise. I’ve been let down too many times. I don’t want to be let down again.”

“Emily, I’ll never let you down. I love you too much.”

“Oh, René, I wish you hadn’t said that.”

“It happens to be the truth. Let’s eat something, shall we? Then we’ll take a walk.”

Ambassador Zev Eliyahu stood in the grand center hall of the Musée d’Orsay, using every diplomatic skill he possessed to hide the fact that he was bored to tears. Trim, athletic, deeply tanned in spite of the dreary Parisian fall, he crackled with a brash energy. Gatherings like this annoyed him. Eliyahu had nothing against art; he simply didn’t have time for it. He still had the work ethic of a kibbutznik, and between ambassadorial postings he had made millions in investment banking.

He had been talked into attending the reception tonight for one reason: it would give him an opportunity to have an unofficial moment or two with the French foreign minister. Relations between France and Israel were icy at the moment. The French were angry because a pair of Israeli intelligence officers had been caught trying to recruit an official from the Defense Ministry. The Israelis were angry because the French had recently agreed to sell jet fighters and nuclear reactor technology to one of Israel ’s Arab enemies. But when Eliyahu approached the French foreign minister for a word, the minister virtually ignored him, then pointedly engaged the Egyptian ambassador in a lively conversation about the Middle East peace process.